According to poll released in June by the organizations Sexuality Information
and Education Council of the US (SIECUS) and Advocates for Youth, 93 percent
of Americans support sexuality education in high schools, while 84 percent
support it in middle and junior high schools. In February and March 1999,
Hickman-Brown Research, Inc., surveyed 1,050 adults nationwide; research
also included four focus groups conducted in April 1999 in Columbia, Maryland,
and Charlotte, North Carolina, with parents who live with their school-age
children. The poll has a plus or minus three percent sampling error.

“Concern over teenage pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, and other sexually transmitted
diseases (STDs) is transforming the debate over sexuality education in
the US to a consensus around public health,” said the press release announcing
the poll results. Nearly three-quarters of the respondents believed
that “preventing HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases are public
health issues and should be left to scientists and experts not to politicians.”
Seventy percent opposed a federal program, passed as part of the 1996 welfare
reform bill, that funds so-called abstinence-only-until-marriage education
and prohibits funding for education about the use of condoms and contraception.

Other poll findings include the following:

• Over 80 percent believe young people should be given information about
protecting themselves from unplanned pregnancies and STDs as well as about
abstinence.

• Over 80 percent reject the idea that educating young people about
sexuality encourages sexual activity.

• Support for sexuality education in junior high and high school extends
to all groups including conservative Christians.

• Over 60 percent believe that sexual exploration among young people
is a natural part of growing up and that the best approach is to provide
information and services to help them act responsibly; this includes 44
percent of conservatives.